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Wedding: Glenn and Edie wash feet

Glenn Daniels and Edie Wilson…. Great wedding guys, well done! And it all started with sister Di doing work experience with us six years ago! I love it. Given all Glenn’s photography mates in the room on the day I’d love to see some better photos than these, feel free to email!!!

Ushers: Mia and Yasmin de Jonge
Prelude Music: Nick Harder (Violin) and Katie VanderzaagEntrance:
Glenn and Boys to build the foot washing area before the girls arrive.
Music: Nick Harder and Katie Vanderzaag
Edie’s sisters Dianna and Cathy walk down the aisle together followed by Edie with her parents Geoff and Liesje on each arm.Welcome: Marcus Curnow
On behalf of Glenn, Edie and their families, welcome to Wonga Park Reformed church today.
Throughout the day Glenn and Edie encourage you to enjoy the surrounds.
It is one way we can appreciate our dependence upon the creation, the role that marriage plays in maintaining this connection, and give thanks to the Creator who sustains all of this.
At the beginning of this ceremony Glenn and Edie wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this place, the peoples of the Kulin nations, their elders and families who have lived long and well on this land.
They also want us to be aware of our emotions. What it is that each of us feel and bring to this place and celebration today.
Perhaps goodwill, a sense of connection with Glenn and Edie and their communities, excited hopes for them, a desire to let go, to enjoy and celebrate. It’s going to be a great party!
Or perhaps feelings that are more difficult. Weddings can raise fears and expectations, painful memories of people who have died or are not here, reminders of relationships that have failed or that remain un-reconciled.
Whatever we feel, whatever the state of relationships, let us bring together with Edie and Glenn the good and the bad; our hopes, as well as our fears for their future. Let us come together, bringing our honest selves and journeys to God who journeys and celebrates with us.Opening Prayer: Mr. Geoff WilsonSong: Nick, Katie and Jemma
The central image that Glenn and Edie wish to celebrate today as they marry is that of service. As part of their vows they will participate in a sacrament of washing each others feet. Let us join with them in celebrating this symbol by singing The Servant Song.The Servant Song
Brother sister, let me serve you. Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too.
We are pilgrims on a journey; we are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other, walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you, in the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you; speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping. When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony.
Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.The Vocation (Call) of Marriage:Reading 1: Genesis 2:20b – 25: Amanda VerdouwReflection: Marcus Curnow
Creation stories are sacred because they preserve for a culture that which is essential to their understanding of what it means to be human.
The story we have heard read speaks of a man Adam which comes from the Hebrew “Adamah” for earth. Adam is created from the earth like the other creatures. Unlike the other Hebrew creation story where man and woman are created together and God looks and says it is good, this Adam or “earth creature” among other earth creatures is described as incomplete and alone and it is described as not good!
And so we see God go back to work says he works very hard. This time not working from the earth, from which the other animals but from Adam. At the end of the process the “earth creature” is greatly relieved. “Finally, flesh of my flesh.” Not quite there yet Glenn!
Those who would see the creation of woman as secondary fail to see that far from a subordinate helper, woman is created as the climax of creation, the essential partner who completes an incomplete humanity. Edie you look stunning.
Interestingly at this first wedding it’s not the woman who changes her name. Adams name is changed from adam “of the earth” to of the woman, from ish to ishshah. No longer of the earth but of each other.
It reminds us of our need for the other, for difference, for inter-connection.
For this reason they are made one flesh, leaving behind all other structures of human power be they family, tribe loyalty and identity.
Glen and Edie have chosen this story as it calls for a valuing of the other as oneself and to mutuality at the deepest level. The story ends by saying they were naked and they felt no shame. It is an image of the connection they seek emotionally, physically and spiritually.
And so marriage is a gift of God, our creator. It declares that love is the ultimate force that drives the universe.
As Gods calls to marriage, so God draws differing gifts and hopes into a unity of love and service.
Through marriage a new household is formed, where children may be born and grow in secure and loving care.
Marriage should therefore not be entered lightly or selfishly, but responsibly and joyfully, with mutual respect and the promise to be faithful.
It should be honoured by all.Declaration of Call:Glenn and Edie:
Having heard the nature of the call. Of your own free will, understanding the responsibility and commitment it invites, will you choose to belong to each other in the vocation of marriage?We will Immediate Family (they stand)
Neil and Jenny, Geoff and Liesje, you have raised Glenn and Edie out of the vocation of your own marriages.
Cathy & Dave, Dianna, Candy & Mark, Mick & Duck you have been raised with and journeyed alongside them.
Will you give your blessing to their marriage and share in its joys and challenges as they embark on this way of life together
We will. As your families we will seek to serve you as you serve each other.
(The Wilson and Daniels families will present a bowl and towel for the sacrament of footwashing)Community of family and friends (they stand)
Will you give your blessing and will you support them as they embark on this way of life together.
We will. As your community of friends we will seek to serve you as you serve each other.(Trevor Marriott and Scott Urquhart will present a water jug and soap for the sacrament of footwashing)Reading 2: John 13:1-5, 12-17 HaynoReflection: Marcus Curnow
Why ever would you want to wash each others feet on your wedding day? At best is awkward, at worst it’s disgusting?
Why ruin the image of prince and princess for a day? Glenn you don’t see too many close-ups of feet in the wedding magazines!
Well the wedding industry and their glossy magazines give us one vision of what it means to be fully human but Christians believe if we want to know what it means to be fully human we must look to God who comes to us in human form in the person of Jesus. A God who does the servants work of washing feet. Jesus shows us that we find life when we give it away. And that is what you are doing today, whilst you maintain your own individuality, there is a death of sorts as you give parts of yourself away in order to serve each other. And so Edie and Glenn are washing each others feet today for four reasons.It is a symbol of their desire to serve each other in mutual submission.
You are hardly the people who I need to preach to about mutual submission. Both of you have a gentleness and vulnerability about your character that many of us admire greatly and is a great strength.
Glenn said of Edie “She says what it is I’m trying to say”, she completes me.
I have been impressed by the way you have been careful, full of care for each other through the stressful process of getting married.
I even had to ask “Do you guy’s ever fight?” I was glad to hear that you do and that you are each strong in different areas.
This is important. Service doesn’t mean being weak, or to vacillate to the other.
In talking with your friends and families many have said how you have each grown stronger through being together over the past year.
In being strong for each other in your areas of strength, even through conflict, you serve your relationship.It is a symbol of their desire to serve and be served by you their community of family and friends.
We learn much about service from the families we grow up in and you are privileged to have come from strong families who have taught you much about what service is. In a land of dusty roads foot washing was a common domestic courtesy in Jesus day. I am always offered coffee and cake when at the Wilson’s and I am told there is always a beer on offer when one arrives at the Daniels’. You have much to draw from this source.
Having had time away from family and friends in Tasmania, Edi you have expressed your desire for community to be a strong part of this marriage.It is a symbol of their desire to serve those who are often considered least in our world.
At the last supper before he giving his life away at the cross Jesus washes the feet of his diverse followers who he knows will betray him and let him down.
It is a sign that love is ultimate and will rise again in the face of other forms of violent power. It reminds us of the need to prioritise and serve, and to be served, by those who are broken and crucified in our world today. Like marriage this kind of service can be costly but in it we find life.
You have both “wet your feet” in this area, Glenn through your experience of living at Urban Seed and Edie your trip to Cambodia. I know you share hopes of future travel together and sharing your many gifts in this regard.It is a symbol of their desire to serve all of creation.
Glenn and Edie desperately wanted an outdoor wedding for what it says about how they feel about creation. It’s lucky we didn’t end up at Silvan Dam for the outdoor wedding today or we would all have had to wash each others feet!
Marriage creates a household in which children may be raised. Sex and Food are an essential part of the marriage household and both connect us with the forces of creation. Get into it!
Households need food, food requires farms and farms need the wilderness. There is a profound connection between domestic happiness and the wild forces of nature. Any culture, or economy that fails to respect the mystery and sanctity of wilderness; any religion that forbids its prophets go to the wilderness loses the chance of renewal and is ultimately doomed.
Glenn it’s probably fair to say you have always been a bit of a wild child and a restless spirit. It has been very special and important to see you find a peace in this relationship and with the prospect of marriage. Whilst there will be much to learn about household and giving your life away through serving each other, let me remind you both that “settling down” does not mean being domesticated.
Glenn, a surf for you is a spiritual thing. Your baptism was a wild surfing event, so it is great you can share this image of water today. Together you have already known something of the wildness of God’s love as you have come together. God is the ultimate wild child. The Creator’s love cannot ultimately be confined to any temple or household.
May you marriage rest and rejoice in the wild, expansive, never ending love of God. Amen.The Covenanting:Exchange of Vows:
I ______, take you, ______to be my husband/wife, my helper and companion in life. It is in the knowledge and assurance of God’s faithful love, grace and strength that I make these promises to you today.
I promise to be faithful to you
to be honest and open with you
to trust and respect you
to cherish you and encourage you
to share my life with you
to walk with you towards God
In unison:
Don’t let me leave you, or turn back from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. And where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. Ruth 1:16
Rings:
I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you.Symbol: Footwashing
What image of love shall we use to capture and celebrate the significance of the commitment Edie and Glenn are making. Jesus Christ offered us an image of love grounded in self giving service. In a confronting demonstration of this serving love, Christ washed the feet of his followers at their final meal, and told them to do likewise.
As part of their covenanting with each other, Glenn and Edie will follow the example and command of Christ by washing each others feet.

It is a symbol of their desire to serve each other in mutual submission.
It is a symbol of their desire to serve and be served by you their community of family and friends.
It is a symbol of their desire to serve those who are often considered least in our world.
It is a symbol of their desire to serve all of creation.Blessing and Pronouncement of Marriage
You may kiss the groom.

Signing of the Register:
Witnesses: Hayno, Aunty Cazz
Music: Nick, Lisa, Julia “Time after Time”Song: “The Irish Blessing” John CornfordChorus
May your life in this world be a happy one,
May your sun be warm and may your skies be blue,
May each storm that comes your way,
Clear the air for a brighter day.
May the saints and the saviour, watch over you.
As you spend time with friends and family,
And you see the warmth and love they have for you,
When you see the wars and hate, others radiate,
May the saints and the saviour, watch over you.
Chorus
As you spend time in this old world of ours,
As you see the beauty of the morning dew,
As you smell the summer flowers, while you pass away the hours,
May the saints and the saviour, watch over you.
Chorus
Housekeeping: Instructions of what to do next, Arvo Tea in the hall, family photos. If you have been invited to the reception. Follow balloons from the turn off of the Monbulk/Silvan Road to reception etc.Blessing: Marcus Curnow
Go in peace,
And may the holy God surprise you on the way,
Christ Jesus be your company
And the Spirit light up your life. Amen
Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Glenn and Edie DanielsRecessional: Music
Kim and Jon, Amy, Paul and Amber

4 thoughts on “Wedding: Glenn and Edie wash feet”

Great to see this up on the site. Wasn’t it a fab day! Marcus, you did a wonderful job of the ceremony.
Only rarely, it seems, is a wedding as full of meaning and purpose as this one was. Cried me eyes out, I did.
(These last three photos are pretty good, ay. not that I’m biased or anything.)

Hey Glenn,
Congrats from over the ditch.
This means that you and cookie are kinda related, i bet you never thought that would be the case…………….
Srriously, grate pics and even better news, bless you and your beter half……
Bryce

You don’t know me; I found your website by accident. I just want to say how very cool it was that you washed each other’s feet on your wedding day. What a wonderful symbol of setting Christian marriage apart from secular marriage. Blessings to you and your family.

I’m also a total stranger my name is Sandra from Houston, TX. I thought the washing of the feet was such a wonderful expresion for your Love to one another. Awesome symbol of the faith we carry as an obidience of our Lord and Savior. I too will marry this coming September 2007 and I want to do the same with my husband. Jesus died on the cross for us and told the disciples to do the same as He did for them at His last supper, the washing of the feet. A reminder that we must serve with our whole hearst. May God always shine His light on you and watch over you for the rest of your days together. By the way I found your website because I was looking for the true meaning of the washing of the feet and I found it in you two. God Bless!